


The Dark Magician

by k_n



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Fluff, M/M, Nobody Dies, friendship is important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 08:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19195669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k_n/pseuds/k_n
Summary: Modern AU:Joey Wheeler is making a new life for himself after moving away from his father, grooming dogs for his previously estranged sister's mobile grooming business. Seto has three white standard poodles. Meanwhile, Joey's roommate and new friend, Yugi, is gaining recognition as a drag magician in a competitive field. Love and magic and trust and healing may ensue.





	The Dark Magician

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flowerspeaks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerspeaks/gifts).



> HELLO! I've been a writer on hiatus, but I watched all of Yu-Gi-Oh for the past 2 years and I had this idea knocking around in my head. I may update sporadically!

The first thing out of the kid’s mouth is, “You’re not Serenity.”

He’s not wrong. Joey is very much not Serenity. In fact, people have made a point of this for his whole life, how very much not Serenity he is. It’s usually an accusation against him, posed as an observation about his sister. Your sister is quieter than you. Your sister doesn’t talk like you. Your sister always thinks ahead. Your sister has it together. Joey stands up a little straighter and nods down at the kid, who just peers up at him, scanning him incredulously. Behind the kid, Joey can already hear the dogs barking in baritone. Surely, they know the sound of the van by now, and they know what’s coming.

“I’m her brother,” Joey explains. “I’m Joey.”

“She doesn’t sound like you,” the kid says. He starts to shut the door, but Joey pulls out his phone, showing off his current lock screen—Serenity and Joey in nice sweaters in front of a city fountain, beaming under overcast skies. The kid scans it over, squinting between Joey and the photo, and slowly nods. “I’m not saying you wouldn’t do a good job, but we’re used to Serenity—we like her—the dogs like her…”

“I work with her,” Joey replies. “I’m great with dogs. I can get whatever you need done. Judging from what she told me, it’s just baths today.”

The kid nods again and holds his chin in his tan, tiny fist. Joey considers how else he can win the kid over.

“I can get her on the phone,” Joey starts. “She can vouch for me. Would that help?”

“I’m fine with it,” the kid confesses, “but it’s my brother who might not be.”

They both watch each other. Stalemate. Joey clears his throat. The kid clears his throat. Joey glances beyond the kid’s head into the house, but he doesn’t see anyone inside. He hears the dogs and a television, but no people. It just looks like the kid, alone, and the kid looks like he’s twelve and like no one ever put a comb or a pair of scissors to his hair. The kid finally summons a breath.

“I have an idea,” he says. “I bring the dogs out to your van.” He pantomimes  _ dogs  _ by holding his hands up near the top of his head, which almost makes Joey laugh because his face is so serious. “You do everything there. You call me when it’s done. I come out, take them back in. Then my brother won’t see, and it’ll be painless. Whatcha think?”

“He really that weird about it?” Joey asks, without thinking, because he never thinks, but he winces after he says it, regrets his talking mouth.

“Seto doesn’t like surprises,” the kid admits. “He’s wary of strangers.”

Joey thinks about someone he knows who used to fit that exact description. He nods, salutes the kid, and says, “Roger that. I’ll be in the van, buddy.”

The kid relaxes and brightens up, smiling. He thrusts his hand out and shakes Joey’s. It’s all perfectly over the top, perfectly ridiculous, perfectly charming.

“It’s Mokuba!” the kid says, and then he fetches the dogs, and they separate.

 

-

 

The first thing out of Seto Kaiba’s mouth is, “Who are you?”

Joey is less used to hearing this than You’re Not Serenity. In fact, Joey panics at the question, fumbles his name, puts up his hands in mock surrender while the Kaibas’ three standard poodles decide between licking Joey’s hands and jumping on Seto. Seto repeats what Joey said— _ Joey Wheeler? _ —and finally backs away, but keeps his eyes on Joey, perhaps suspecting the worst.

“Mokuba?” Seto calls, without turning his head.

“Bathroom,” Joey offers, and the men wait in the foyer. Seto barely blinks. Joey waits, feels his heart thumping towards the front of his chest, as if he’s been caught mid-crime. He wasn’t supposed to go back inside, but Mokuba was being friendly, insisting his brother probably wouldn’t be back for another hour. Joey always likes to see the clients’ houses, and he likes the Kaibas’ home, likes how neat and stately parts of it look— _ Seto’s touch _ , Mokuba notes, gesturing to an abstract sculpture—and how approachable other parts look— _ my idea _ , Mokuba says, settling into an oversized beanbag chair in front of a massive television. It’s not often that Joey actually goes inside or gets a tour, and, well, Joey thought the kid seemed lonely, eager to talk.

Mokuba comes out and the brothers share a tense, whispered exchange, before Seto stalks off, whisking the dogs away with him, not leaving Joey with an apology or a goodbye, but Joey doesn’t know what he expected.

Serenity told him these were her oddest clients. She groaned when she saw their names on her calendar. She was happy to pass them off to him. He wonders if this is why. His sister has always been more sensitive to people, more hurt by coldness than Joey. He isn’t tremendously wounded by this exchange.

Joey and Mokuba gather themselves in the foyer. Mokuba grimaces or smiles.

“Sorry,” Mokuba says. “I thought we had more time.”

“Ain’t nothing to be sorry for,” Joey replies.

Mokuba hands Joey an envelope—his tip—and the two separate once more, leaving Joey to finally rip it open in the safety of the mobile grooming van. The tip is so big that Joey quickly decides that the Kaibas are definitely worth the trouble. He pockets it and starts the van and drives home, singing.

 

-

 

Joey Wheeler lives in a two bedroom apartment with his roommate, Yugi Mutou, and his three cats—Puff, Spyro, and Smaug. Joey occasionally jokes, instead, that he actually has four cats, considering how small and catlike Yugi is. Yugi doesn’t mind the jokes. He’s five feet tall and prone to napping on that particular spot on the couch where the sun comes through and warms everything up and, really, all of them came into Joey’s life similarly, since Joey has an unbreakable habit of taking in sick, stray things from the outdoors.

But nowadays, none of them are sick or stray. The cats are all very fat and doted on. Yugi’s less shy, more confident, more willing to experiment with things, willing to fuck up and try again. Joey has been on the receiving end of many failed magic tricks. The thing is that, by night, Yugi is a magician. The thing is that, by night, Yugi is The Dark Magician, and from what Joey understands, this is a very big deal, although, to be frank, Joey doesn’t understand very much about the world his roommate inhabits. He just knows that Yugi is always home during the day, prone to sleeping very late, frequently found nestled on the sofa with a pile of fat, happy cats sleeping on him.

This is how Joey finds Yugi when he comes home. Yugi’s eyes open, squinting, and his voice croaks, “Dogs?”

“You got it, pal,” Joey says, and Joey takes out his cash tip, raining it down on his sleepy roommate and the cats, who refuse to move, perfectly comfortable where they are. Puff looks up at him and tucks her feet under her soft body, going back to bed with a five dollar bill settling between her yellow ears. “We’re rich, baby!”

Yugi blinks, trying to count bills with his eyes. He says, “Joey, how many dogs? Twelve?”

“Nah. Three. Rich folks are usually stingier,” Joey admits, shrugging. He collects the money off his roommate and cats, tucking it back into his pocket. “It was some generous kid. Only three poodles getting baths. But I think he felt bad, ‘cause his brother was a little rude. Nothing Joey Wheeler can’t handle.”

Smaug stretches out, his black body going noodle-long. Yugi rubs the cat’s chin.

“Hm… Well, that sounds… magic.”

“Aw, that’s not even a pun, man.”

“Give me some time to marinate. I haven’t been awake for long. I’ll come back with something better.”

Joey ruffles up his roommate’s hair and leaves for the kitchen, filling up the cats’ bowls and performing their delicate, over-complicated feeding rituals. The cats are particular. Smaug, his black cat with eyes nearly orange enough to look red, is a fearless eater, prone to eating the other cats’ meals if left unattended. Spyro, his brown tabby, eats slowly and carefully, perhaps due to his old age. And Puff, the youngest of them, a golden cat, is often so easily spooked that she can only eat in total silence. Joey has to feed all of them in separate rooms, timing out this process so that no cat can steal from another, or scare each other into skipping a meal.

The first time Yugi witnessed this process, he was mid-trip to the shower, so he paused in the hallway, watching with his change of clothes gathered in his arms. Yugi didn’t say anything for a time. He just stared at all three of them, standing perfectly still. Their living situation was still new. Joey’s old roommate had left unexpectedly. Yugi was a sub-letter with almost no belongings, and moved around the apartment in near silence, as if afraid he might be punished for making any noise. But he finally opened his mouth, when Puff had finished, and asked, “Do you do this every time?”

Joey almost jumped, not having realized Yugi was there, but he played it off, nodding. “The delicate dance.”

Yugi smiled down into his pile of clothes and darted off.

 

-

 

Joey gets a voicemail on his phone, perfectly dignified, clipped, begrudging, as if someone else put him up to this message, although, when Joey listens and hears the dogs in the background, he realizes no one else is putting him up to it, unless Seto Kaiba counts himself.

“I would like to apologize for my behavior when you visited last. You did a wonderful job on the dogs. If you are open to it, I would like to treat you to lunch and speak to you directly so that you might understand my behavior when we met. Again, very sorry.”

Joey listens to this message a few times. Joey keeps playing it. He plays it for his sister. He plays it for Yugi. Each time, he expects to hear the catch happen in real time, but it never plays in real time. He waits, looks at his screen, uncertain. His sister shakes her head.

“Call him back,” she says.

 

-

 

Serenity and Joey have not truly known one another for long. Joey began working for his sister a year ago, sure, but they aren’t close. Estrangement will do that to a family. Joey stuck with his father. Serenity stuck with their mother. The Wheeler kids were young. They didn’t really have a say in these kinds of things. If you asked Joey, now, he would probably repeat his choice, although he would do it begrudgingly, anticipating years of covering for his father financially.

His father gambles. His father drinks. We all have our sins. Joey covers less than he used to. Before he lived with Yugi, he would have paid every debt left in his father’s wake. Nowadays, Joey hesitates, considers his own future, too. Yugi is part of the reason for this, but so is Serenity, who showed up, a year ago, by accident or happenstance or destiny or fate or maybe it doesn’t really matter how she showed up, maybe it only matters that she did show up at all.

Serenity is a different beast. She makes her bed every morning. She folds her clothes properly. She spends responsibly. She tells people when they’re overstepping their bounds. She backs away at the right time. She understands how to protect herself. Joey is older than she is, but this often feels like something he’s been told in theory, since when they’re together, he feels young, foolish, unsure of himself. Serenity is almost nothing like their father, the man Joey grew up with, and they know it, especially since Joey still flinches backwards when her hands move too quickly.

“I would never hurt you,” she tells him, and Joey, in theory, understands, but in actuality, he doesn’t.

“I know,” he tells her.

In theory. In actuality.

His father’s hands have found a home in too many dangerous places. Joey has pried his father’s hands off his throat. Joey has dodged thrown books, boxes, bottles. Joey has grown up knowing that love comes from the same person who wants to hurt him. So Joey keeps flinching away from people’s fast-moving hands, anticipating the worst, even when his loved ones assure him it’s different with them, that they aren’t trying to hurt him. In theory, of course, Joey understands.

His father’s hands, pinning him to the wall, to the floor, to gravel and dust and blood and bone. Joey, paying off suspicious characters for gambles that weren’t his. Joey, finally in the strange calm of an apartment full of rescued cats and a boy he is beginning to consider a friend. In actuality, in actuality, in actuality.

 

-

 

Joey goes to one of Yugi’s performances. This isn’t out of the ordinary. Joey attends these kinds of shows whenever possible. He sits in unfamiliar places, the odd man out, too cheerful or straight looking, or, at least, this is what Joey takes away from these interactions, since people in these places ask if he’s lost, if he knows where he is. He’s in gay bars. Yugi is a drag magician. Joey has to bite his tongue. He says, “I’m here to see my friend perform.”

“That’s sweet,” says a stranger, another stranger, and another. It’s always sweet. Joey tries to blend in until Yugi comes on stage, and then everything is fine, because Joey knows why he’s come out for the evening.

Yugi likes magic. Yugi likes beauty. Yugi appears on stage with glittery eyeshadow, heavy eyeliner, skinny limbs in black fishnet, decorative belts, a beautiful and bright voice echoing off the walls. Yugi sees Joey and lights up every time, never failing to be surprised and delighted that his roommate has shown up where others wouldn’t. Joey is attentive, friendly, smiling, waving his arms around whenever the chance to volunteer occurs. Yugi winks at him, chooses another person in the audience, and later, when they come home together, he says, “You can stay home, you know.”

“I like seeing what you do,” Joey explains.

“It’s a queer scene,” Yugi says. “You probably feel out of place.”

Joey considers this. Joey pets his cats. Joey pours them drinks. “You don’t know if I’m gay, Yuge.”

“Are you gay?” Yugi asks.

“Maybe.”

“Okay,” Yugi says. “Well, you know, if you ever need to talk to anyone about it, I’m here. You know that, right?”

“It’s not a crisis,” Joey assures him. “I like who I like.”

“Who do you like?” Yugi asks.

“The cats, mostly.”

Yugi smiles and looks down, eyelids full of maroon glitter. He says, “That’s not so bad. People are tough. Cats are easy.”

“Easy?” Joey asks. “You callin’ me a coward?”

“I would never do that,” Yugi replies. “You know that.”

“I know.”

They separate. Joey showers. The glitter stays. He picks it off his cheek and out of his hair for days. He comes back home from his odd jobs and he finds Yugi sleeping with the cats, sprawled in the sunlight, oblivious and happy, the way Joey thinks Yugi should always be.

 

-

 

Serenity braids her hair in the coffee shop while they wait for their order. Joey has been thinking about the Kaibas, but keeps his mouth shut, just watching her sister’s hands move, grabbing clumps of hair. It’s a fishtail braid. He knows this, of course, because Serenity has explained it. She always tells him what she’s doing, as if she’s worried what he might do in her silence, otherwise. Of course, Serenity is smart, since this makes Joey relax for a bit, knowing what to expect.

“You’ve been quiet today,” Serenity says.

“Don’t got anything to talk about,” Joey says.

“The holidays are coming up,” she offers. “What are you doing for your father?”

“He’s your father, too,” Joey starts. A few beats of silence. Joey adds, “What do you do for a guy like that, though? I want to invite him for dinner, but I’m worried what he’ll do if he sees Yugi. He’s not understanding.”

Serenity considers this. “He’s that bad?”

“I don’t know,” Joey confesses. “He’s always drunk around me. I don’t want him to yap too much and hurt Yuge’s feelings.”

“Yugi’s not a kid, though,” Serenity says. “He’s my age, right?”

“You’re right, but Yugi’s different. He’s sensitive.”

Serenity finishes her fishtail braid by tying it off with an elastic. The barista shouts out a finished order, but it isn’t theirs. Serenity folds her hands together on the table and Joey looks at her hands, wonders at the cleanliness of her fingers, something that seems alien to him, his rough hands, his wrong hands. He realizes she’s looking at his face and sits up straighter.

“You ever call the Kaibas?” she asks.

“No.”

“You should,” she says. “Seto never said a word to me. It’s kind of a big deal that he’d say anything to you at all, especially an apology.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

The barista shouts another order, not theirs.

Joey asks, “Do you think there’s any healthy families out here?”

“There must be at least one,” his sister says. “Statistically speaking.”

“Do you think we can make our own healthy families, considering everything?”

“I gave up trying a while ago,” Serenity replies, laughing a little too much when she says it.

The barista calls an order. It’s theirs.

 

-

 

Joey comes home to Yugi sitting up, taking notes while watching a youtube tutorial about magic or gothic fashion (or this is what he assumes, judging from a glance at the screen). Yugi leaps up and covers the screen, exclaiming, “You can’t see this! You’re a civilian!”

Joey makes a show of covering his eyes with his hands as he moves towards the kitchen, saying, “I didn’t see nothing!”

Yugi scolds him when he uncovers his eyes, so Joey waits in the patient darkness of his own palms. Eventually, the video’s audio stops, and Joey hears Yugi clamp the laptop shut, and then Yugi says, “You have permission to see again.”

“Thanks, Yuge.”

Joey finds Yugi cleaning up the sitting room, shutting his sketchbook, the one Joey knows Yugi fills with sketches and diagrams of future costumes and ideas for magician products that will never ultimately be profitable, as their target audience is too niche and not wealthy. Joey has sat through many pitches from Yugi over these products.

“Looks like you’re doing homework,” Joey comments. “Big plans?”

“It’s magic, Joey,” Yugi replies. “So, yes. Homework and big plans. Lots of work ahead. I want to perform outside drag venues. I want to graduate to casinos.”

Joey says, “I ain’t going to casinos.”

The bite in his voice surprises them both. For a moment, they look at each other, startled, and Yugi finally opens up his arms, nodding Joey towards him. Joey is so much taller that he folds over his friend in a hug, but, to his credit, Yugi hugs like the strongest man in the room. Joey keeps thinking about his father. Joey often does, though he would rather think about other things.

Before Yugi leaves for his evening gig, he stops in front of Joey, asking, “You ever call that Kaiba back?”

“Nah.”

“Joey—wait, what is that?” Yugi’s eyes widen. “I think—wait—hold still.”

“This stunt again?”

“Wow—I mean—look what I’ve found!” Yugi exclaims.

Yugi pulls Joey’s phone from behind his ear, faux-marveling, and places it in Joey’s hands. Yugi says, “Make a call.”

 

-

 

Joey goes to voicemail. He leaves a rambling, winding message while he walks from the grooming van to the pet supply store, where there are plenty of owners inside, walking their dogs around the tiled floors. Joey’s message is as follows:

“Hey, it’s me. Sorry it took so long to call back—oh, ‘scuse—I just—you know, I got sidetracked, really. Sometimes it’s three dogs, but sometimes it’s fifteen, and then I gotta run off to a magic show, which I don’t mind, really, ‘cause I love supporting my friends, but there’s not enough time in a day. Oh, cat in those bubble backpacks. Good look. Oh! Jesus, sorry. I’m getting cat food and getting distracted. Lunch. Right. Let’s do lunch. I mean, my schedule’s all over the place. Give me a time and I’ll schedule around it. Or, whatever’s easy, I don’t know. I don’t get lunch out a lot. But give me a ring and we can figure it out, pal. Pal? Jesus Christ.”

Joey hangs up, dazed, unsure of what he’s even said.

 


End file.
